When starting a new business the 3 main social media big guns I recommend an organization gets involved with are facebook, twitter and linkedin. Twitter can seem daunting to some people who feel it's just not their thing. I love to break down things that are confusing for many people into simple terms and techniques. Here are the "ground rules" and how to get around twitter to make it work for your business.

140 charactersAnything you post on twitter has to fit into 140 characters. This can be a tweet or a direct message. Always try to include a link back to a page on your website! This is important because it makes it very easy for the reader to access your website with one click, but tweets are also something read by search engines - so it creates yet another link back to your website.

FollowTo connect with twitter users you "follow" them (much like friending in facebook) simply by clicking on the "Follow" button next to their profile. When someone follows you, always try to thank them for their follow in a direct message (you will find this in the drop down list next to their name) along with something that shows you looked at their profile (this makes them feel loyalty to you and they are more likely to keep following you) OR a fun spiel about your business with your website's link. Also, follow them back unless they are not something you want to be connected to or they are in direct competition with you. You can also block unwanted followers in the drop down list next to their name on the 'Followers' page.

@ConnectTo find people to follow (in the hopes they will follow you) – click on the @Connect link on the top.You will see twitter will give you suggestions of who to follow based on your interests and location.To check out what the person is about – if you click on their name you can see their profile and tweets.Click on 'Follow' to follow.To find more, click on the 'Refresh' link next to 'Who To Follow'.You can also import your email contacts by clicking on the Find Friends' link under the Who to Follow suggestions.

#DiscoverThis is the hot topics that are going on now – it will bring up your local topics and national.

HashtagThe # before a word is called a hashtag – people can start an online conversation by entering a hashtag phrase or keyword and asking a question – then anyone who wants to get in on it, just puts that same hashtag and their comment. Anyone who has posted a tweet with that same hashtag will appear in the results with a hashtag search. You may need to do it several times over time for it to pick up if you are using a very unique keyword or phrase.Ex: (someone starts a hashtag) What keeps you young? #sexyoversixty(someone replies to the question with the same hashtag) #sexyoversixty My attitude keeps me young!

@To reply to someone publicly that tweeted something to you publicly, you just include their twitter name after the @ symbol and then your reply.Ex: @MCDesignandServ thank you for your shout out

Private MessagesTo reply privately click on the drop down arrow next to the person icon on the top right, click on 'Direct messages' and then the ‘new messages’ button, type in the person’s name and they should populate for you – you can only message people who are following you.

How to find people that may be interested in your products or services.To find people that are tweeting about the services or products that you offer, type in those key words (words the person on the street would use to describe what you do or offer) in the search oval at the top. That will bring up tweets of people with those same key words – you will have to scroll through the results a lot to find real people’s tweets and not just other companies that are posting the same kind of things you are. Sometimes it helps to be following people who are similar to you, but necessarily in direct competition.

Happy Tweeting! If you would like someone to manage your twitter account for you or all of your social media for that matter, MC Design & Services, LLC can do all of these things for you! We can also design a twitter page that matches your brand and website and add 'follow me on twitter' buttons to your website.Contact Us